Galen Albret had chosen to interrogate1 his recaptured prisoner alone. He sat again in the arm-chair of the Council Room. The place was flooded with sun. It touched the high-lights of the time-darkened, rough furniture, it picked out the brasses2, it glorified3 the whitewashed4 walls. In its uncompromising illumination Me-en-gan, the bowsman, standing5 straight and tall and silent by the door, studied his master's face and knew him to be deeply angered.
For Galen Albret was at this moment called upon to deal with a problem more subtle than any with which his policy had been puzzled in thirty years. It was bad enough that, in repeated defiance6 of his authority, this stranger should persist in his attempt to break the Company's monopoly; it was bad enough that he had, when captured, borne himself with so impudent7 an air of assurance; it was bad enough that he should have made open love to the Factor's daughter, should have laughed scornfully in the Factor's very face. But now the case had become grave. In some mysterious manner he had succeeded in corrupting8 one of the Company's servants. Treachery was therefore to be dealt with.
Some facts Galen Albret had well in hand. Others eluded9 him persistently10. He had, of course, known promptly11 enough of the disappearance12 of a canoe, and had thereupon dispatched his Indians to the recapture. The Reverend Archibald Crane had reported that two figures had been seen in the act of leaving camp, one by the river, the other by the Woods Trail. But here the Factor's investigations13 encountered a check. The rifle brought in by his Indians, to his bewilderment, he recognized not at all. His repeated cross-questionings, when they touched on the question of Ned Trent's companion, got no farther than the Cree wooden stolidity14. No, they had seen no one, neither presence, sign, nor trail. But Galen Albret, versed15 in the psychology16 of his savage17 allies, knew they lied. He suspected them of clan18 loyalty19 to one of their own number; and yet they had never failed him before. Now, his heavy revolver at his right hand, he interviewed Ned Trent, alone, except for the Indian by the portal.
As with the Indians, his cross-examination had borne scant20 results. The best of his questions but involved him in a maze21 of baffling surmises22. Gradually his anger had mounted, until now the Indian at the door knew by the wax-like appearance of the more prominent places on his deeply carved countenance23 that he had nearly reached the point of outbreak.
Swiftly, like the play of rapiers, the questions and answers broke across the still room.
"You had aid," the Factor asserted, positively24.
"You think so?"
"My Indians say you were alone. But where did you get this rifle?"
"I stole it."
"You were alone?"
Ned Trent paused for a barely appreciable25 instant. It was not possible that the Indians had failed to establish the girl's presence, and he feared a trap. Then he caught the expressive26 eye of Me-en-gan at the door. Evidently Virginia had friends.
"I was alone," he repeated, confidently.
"That is a lie. For though my Indians were deceived, two people were observed by my clergyman to leave the Post immediately before I sent out to your capture. One rounded the island in a canoe; the other took the Woods Trail."
"Bully27 for the Church," replied Trent, imperturbably28. "Better promote him to your scouts29."
"Who was that second person?"
"Do you think I will tell you?"
"I think I'll find means to make you tell me!" burst out the Factor.
Ned Trent was silent.
"If you'll tell me the name of that man I'll let you go free. I'll give you a permit to trade in the country. It touches my authority--my discipline. The affair becomes a precedent30. It is vital."
Ned Trent fixed31 his eyes on the bay and hummed a little air, half turning his shoulder to the older man.
The latter's face blazed with suppressed fury. Twice his hand rested almost convulsively on the butt32 of his heavy revolver.
"Ned Trent," he cried, harshly, at last, "pay attention to me. I've had enough of this. I swear if you do not tell me what I want to know within five minutes, I'll hang you to-day!"
The young man spun33 on his heel.
"Hanging!" he cried. "You cannot mean that?"
The Free Trader measured him up and down, saw that his purpose was sincere, and turned slowly pale under the bronze of his out-of-door tan. Hanging is always a dreadful death, but in the Far North it carries an extra stigma34 of ignominy with it, inasmuch as it is resorted to only with the basest malefactors. Shooting is the usual form of execution for all but the most despicable crimes. He turned away with a little gesture.
"Well!" cried Albret.
Ned Trent locked his lips in a purposeful straight line of silence. To such an outrage35 there could be nothing to say. The Factor jerked his watch to the table.
"I said five minutes," he repeated. "I mean it."
The young man leaned against the side of the window, his arms folded, his back to the room. Outside, the varied36 life of the Post went forward under his eyes. He even noted37 with a surface interest the fact that out across the river a loon38 was floating, and remarked that never before had he seen one of those birds so far north. Galen Albret struck the table with the flat of his hand.
"Done!" he cried, "This is the last chance I shall give you. Speak at this instant or accept the consequences!"
Ned Trent turned sharply, as though breaking a thread that bound him to the distant prospect39 beyond the window. For an instant he stared enigmatically at his opponent. Then in the sweetest tones,
"Oh, go to the devil!" said he, and began to walk deliberately40 toward the older man.
There lay between the window and the head of the table perhaps a dozen ordinary steps, for the room was large. The young man took them slowly, his eyes fixed with burning intensity41 on the seated figure, the muscles of his locomotion42 contracting and relaxing with the smooth, stealthy continuity of a cat. Galen Albret again laid hand on his revolver.
"Come no nearer," he commanded.
Me-en-gan left the door and glided43 along the wall. But the table intervened between him and the Free Trader.
The latter paid no attention to the Factor's command. Galen Albret suddenly raised his weapon from the table.
"Stop, or I'll fire!" he cried, sharply.
"I mean just that," said Ned Trent between his clenched44 teeth.
But ten feet separated the two men. Galen Albret levelled the revolver. Ned Trent, watchful45, prepared to spring. Me-en-gan, near the foot of the table, gathered himself for attack.
Then suddenly the Free Trader relaxed his muscles, straightened his back, and returned deliberately to the window. Facing about in astonishment46 to discover the reason for this sudden change of decision, the other two men looked into the face of Virginia Albret, standing in the doorway47 of the other room.
"Father!" she cried.
"You must go back," said Ned Trent, speaking clearly and collectedly, in the hope of imposing48 his will on her obvious excitement. "This is not an affair in which you should interfere49. Galen Albret, send her away."
The Factor had turned squarely in his heavy arm-chair to regard the girl, a frown on his brows.
"Virginia," he commanded, in deliberate, stern tones of authority, "leave the room. You have nothing to do with this case, and I do not desire your interference."
Virginia stepped bravely beyond the portals, and stopped. Her fingers were nervously50 interlocked, her lip trembled, in her cheeks the color came and went, but her eyes met her father's, unfaltering.
"I have more to do with it than you think," she replied.
Instantly Ned Trent was at the table. "I really think this has gone far enough," he interposed. "We have had our interview, and come to a decision. Miss Albret must not be permitted to exaggerate a slight sentiment of pity into an interest in my affairs. If she knew that such a demonstration51 only made it worse for me I am sure she would say no more." He looked at her appealingly across the Factor's shoulder.
Me-en-gan was already holding open the door. "You come," he smiled, beseechingly52.
But the Factor's suspicions were aroused.
"There is something in this," he decided53. "I think you may stay, Virginia."
"You are right," broke in the young man, desperately54. "There is something in it. Miss Albret knows who gave me the rifle, and she was about to inform you of his identity. There is no need in subjecting her to that distasteful ordeal55. I am now ready to confess to you. I beg you will ask her to leave the room."
Galen Albret, in the midst of these warring intentions, had sunk into his customary impassive calm. The light had died from his eyes, the expression from his face, the energy from his body. He sat, an inert56 mass, void of initiative, his intelligence open to what might be brought to his notice.
"Virginia, this is true?" his heavy, dead voice rumbled57 through his beard. "You know who aided this man?"
Ned Trent mutely appealed to her; her glance answered his.
"Yes, father," she replied.
"Who?"
"I did."
A dead silence fell on the room. Galen Albret's expression and attitude did not change. Through dull, lifeless eyes, from behind the heavy mask of his waxen face and white beard, he looked steadily58 out upon nothing. Along either arm of the chair stretched his own arms limp and heavy with inertia59. In suspense60 the other three inmates61 of the place watched him, waiting for some change. It did not come. Finally his lips moved.
"You?" he muttered, questioningly.
"I," she repeated.
Another silence fell.
"Why?" he asked at last.
"Because it was an unjust thing. Because we could not think of taking a life in that way, without some reason for it."
"Why?" he persisted, taking no account of her reply.
Virginia let her gaze slowly rest on the Free Trader, and her eyes filled with a world of tenderness and trust.
"Because I love him," said she, softly.
收听单词发音 |
1
interrogate
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| vt.讯问，审问，盘问 | |
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brasses
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| n.黄铜( brass的名词复数 )；铜管乐器；钱；黄铜饰品（尤指马挽具上的黄铜圆片） | |
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glorified
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| 美其名的，变荣耀的 | |
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whitewashed
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| 粉饰，美化，掩饰( whitewash的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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defiance
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| n.挑战，挑衅，蔑视，违抗 | |
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impudent
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| adj.鲁莽的，卑鄙的，厚颜无耻的 | |
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corrupting
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| （使）败坏( corrupt的现在分词 )； （使）腐化； 引起（计算机文件等的）错误； 破坏 | |
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eluded
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| v.（尤指机敏地）避开( elude的过去式和过去分词 )；逃避；躲避；使达不到 | |
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persistently
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| ad.坚持地；固执地 | |
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promptly
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| adv.及时地，敏捷地 | |
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disappearance
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| n.消失，消散，失踪 | |
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investigations
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| （正式的）调查( investigation的名词复数 )； 侦查； 科学研究； 学术研究 | |
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stolidity
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| n.迟钝，感觉麻木 | |
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versed
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| adj. 精通，熟练 | |
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psychology
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| n.心理，心理学，心理状态 | |
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savage
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| adj.野蛮的；凶恶的，残暴的；n.未开化的人 | |
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clan
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| n.氏族，部落，宗族，家族，宗派 | |
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loyalty
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| n.忠诚，忠心 | |
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scant
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| adj.不充分的，不足的；v.减缩，限制，忽略 | |
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maze
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| n.迷宫，八阵图，混乱，迷惑 | |
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surmises
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| v.臆测，推断( surmise的第三人称单数 )；揣测；猜想 | |
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countenance
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| n.脸色，面容；面部表情；vt.支持，赞同 | |
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positively
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| adv.明确地，断然，坚决地；实在，确实 | |
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appreciable
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| adj.明显的，可见的，可估量的，可觉察的 | |
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expressive
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| adj.表现的，表达…的，富于表情的 | |
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bully
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| n.恃强欺弱者，小流氓；vt.威胁，欺侮 | |
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imperturbably
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| adv.泰然地，镇静地，平静地 | |
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29
scouts
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| 侦察员[机，舰]( scout的名词复数 )； 童子军； 搜索； 童子军成员 | |
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30
precedent
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| n.先例，前例；惯例；adj.在前的，在先的 | |
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fixed
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| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
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butt
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| n.笑柄；烟蒂；枪托；臀部；v.用头撞或顶 | |
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spun
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| v.纺，杜撰，急转身 | |
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stigma
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| n.耻辱，污名；(花的)柱头 | |
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outrage
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| n.暴行，侮辱，愤怒；vt.凌辱，激怒 | |
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varied
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| adj.多样的，多变化的 | |
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noted
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| adj.著名的，知名的 | |
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loon
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| n.狂人 | |
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prospect
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| n.前景，前途；景色，视野 | |
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deliberately
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| adv.审慎地；蓄意地；故意地 | |
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intensity
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| n.强烈，剧烈；强度；烈度 | |
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locomotion
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| n.运动，移动 | |
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glided
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| v.滑动( glide的过去式和过去分词 )；掠过；（鸟或飞机 ） 滑翔 | |
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clenched
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| v.紧握，抓紧，咬紧( clench的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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watchful
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| adj.注意的，警惕的 | |
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astonishment
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| n.惊奇，惊异 | |
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doorway
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| n.门口，(喻)入门；门路，途径 | |
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imposing
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| adj.使人难忘的，壮丽的，堂皇的，雄伟的 | |
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49
interfere
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| v.(in)干涉，干预；(with)妨碍，打扰 | |
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50
nervously
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| adv.神情激动地，不安地 | |
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51
demonstration
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| n.表明，示范，论证，示威 | |
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beseechingly
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| adv. 恳求地 | |
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53
decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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54
desperately
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| adv.极度渴望地，绝望地，孤注一掷地 | |
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55
ordeal
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| n.苦难经历，（尤指对品格、耐力的）严峻考验 | |
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inert
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| adj.无活动能力的，惰性的；迟钝的 | |
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57
rumbled
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| 发出隆隆声，发出辘辘声( rumble的过去式和过去分词 )； 轰鸣着缓慢行进； 发现…的真相； 看穿（阴谋） | |
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58
steadily
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| adv.稳定地；不变地；持续地 | |
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59
inertia
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| adj.惰性，惯性，懒惰，迟钝 | |
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60
suspense
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| n.（对可能发生的事）紧张感，担心，挂虑 | |
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inmates
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| n.囚犯( inmate的名词复数 ) | |
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